Ipswich Town man must be seeking January transfer exit – he's stalling under Kieran McKenna | OneFootball

Young midfielder Cameron Humphreys should try and force a move away from Ipswich Town in the January transfer window.

Ahead of the January transfer window, Ipswich Town are putting themselves, once again, into a very good position to launch a title challenge in the Championship in the second-half of the campaign.

As the Tractor Boys begin to motor along, Kieran McKenna may believe that further business is required to truly refine his promotion-challenging squad, and that could further complicate things for young midfielder Cameron Humphreys.

Following Ipswich’s surprisingly heavy 3-1 defeat to Leicester City at the King Power Stadium on Saturday afternoon, Town fell to fifth in the second-tier table and now eight points adrift of Middlesbrough in second, and 13 behind league leaders Coventry City.

Ipswich have stuttered at the start of this season, one in which they were deemed by many to be pre-season title favourites, despite another busy summer transfer window which appeared to have seen McKenna cultivate yet another fine squad.

They remain in a more than reasonable position, albeit perhaps behind on where they would ideally want to be, and, despite that, Humphreys has failed to make a major impression in the first-team.

Having been left out of the match day squad against the Foxes, Cameron Humphreys will surely be looking towards the winter market to get himself a move, be it on loan or permanently, with some much-needed game time.

Cameron Humphreys is down the pecking order at Ipswich Town

Having come through the academy in Suffolk, Cameron Humphreys made his professional debut for Ipswich back in the 2021/22 season, towards the end of the campaign under McKenna.

He was then a part of the Ipswich squad that gained back-to-back automatic promotions from League One to the Championship, featuring reasonably prominently in League One before being very much on the periphery in the second-tier.

After an impressive loan stint with Wycombe Wanderers, back down in the third-tier, last season, Humphreys has returned to the Ipswich first-team once again this time around, but he has once again found it difficult to break in.

He came off the bench late on in their opening couple of matches of this season, 1-1 draws against Birmingham City and Southampton, but has since either not been in the squad for the vast majority of the time, as well as being an unused substitute on three occasions.

The Colchester-born midfielder will have been a little concerned right from the off when Ipswich began bringing in big money talent for the middle of the park.

Despite the departures of club captain Sam Morsy and Massimo Luongo, McKenna’s midfield options were only bolstered over the summer with plenty of new arrivals.

Their first purchase of the summer saw Dutch defensive midfielder Azor Matusiwa brought in from Stade Rennais, before Jens Cajuste returned for a second season on loan from Napoli.

Then came the controversial signing of Marcelino Nunez from Norwich City, leaving Humphreys well down the pecking order behind those three, as well as Jack Taylor.

Cameron Humphreys was excellent in League One - could he head back there in January?

Soccer Football - FA Cup Fourth Round Replay - Burnley v Ipswich Town - Turf Moor, Burnley, Britain - February 7, 2023 Burnley's Samuel Bastien in action with Ipswich Town's Cameron Humphreys Action Images/Ed Sykes

In the first-half of last season, Wycombe set the pace at the top-of-the-table in a League One campaign that was eventually won with a record-breaking 111 points by Birmingham City.

As well as Matt Bloomfield, who was poached by Luton Town mid-way through the campaign, and Richard Kone, who has since departed Adams Park for Queens Park Rangers, and a few other stars, one of the key reasons for the Chairboys’ impressive campaign came in the middle of the park.

Forming an excellent partnership with Bolton Wanderers loanee Aaron Morley, Humphreys was superb, and continued to hold things together as a key cog following Morley’s recall on New Year’s Day, injury affecting Kone’s form and Bloomfield departing for Kenilworth Road.

Wycombe still made the play-offs, before a slender 1- 0 aggregate loss to Charlton Athletic in the semi-finals, and Humphreys had made a real name for himself, hence his progression into the Ipswich first-team squad.

Second for expected assists in a stacked Wycombe squad last season, according to FotMob, as well as creating the most big chances of any Wanderers player; Humphreys proved his worth in the final third, as well as being a box-to-box central midfielder, who can even fill in at left-back.

Having notched seven goals, including some eye-catching strikes, Humphreys was also metronomic in an attacking Wycombe side with only three players, two centre-backs, to have a better pass success rate of Wycombe players that averaged 23 or more passes per game last season.

Humphreys would have hoped to have already proved himself enough to be a Championship regular somewhere this season but he may well, and perhaps should, take a step back once again, at least only for a few months, in order to leap forward with his career, be it at Portman Road with Ipswich, or away and without.